Another Judge Figures Out What Prenda Is Up To, Reopens Closed Case, Demands Information On Settlements

from the well,-look-at-that dept

It would appear that yet another federal judge has taken an interest in what Prenda Law was up to for the past few years. Over in Minnesota, US Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel has reopened a case that Prenda had dismissed and ordered Prenda's local counsel, Michael Dugas, to supply an awful lot of information about the settlements they collected from people during the shakedown. The court points out:

In light of Mr.Cooper's letter and Judge Wright's order, it appears to the Court that the plaintiff has relied on forged documents in securing multiple court orders authorizing the discovery of information that, in turn, led to settlements in the above-captioned cases.

Because of that, it's reopening the case:

The Court agrees with the reasoning of Pino and concludes--based on its own interpretation of Rule 60(b)(3) and Rule 60(d)(3)--that it has jurisdiction to strike a plaintiff's notice of voluntary dismissal, reopen the case, and award appropriate relief when allegations of a possible fraud on the court come to its attention. This interpretation of Rule 60 is necessary to preserve the integrity the of judicial system.

All three elements of the Pino test are met here: (1) the plaintiff attached a fraudulent document to the complaint; (2) the Court relied upon that document in authorizing the discovery of internet subscriber information--information the plaintiff was not entitled to receive absent a court
order; and (3) after obtaining the discovery (which--at least as far as the Court is aware--is the only relief the plaintiff ever seeks in these cases), the plaintiff settled and voluntarily dismissed all of these cases.

Given that, the court has ordered Dugas to supply the details of everyone in the case who settled, including their contact info, their attorneys' contact info, the exact terms of the settlement agreements, "including to whom any money was paid and the manner of payment" while also saying that Dugas needs to supply all of those who settled (and their attorneys) with Judge Wright's order in California describing Prenda's scheme. Given the identifying info, this will be filed under seal, but Dugas has only five days to do so. Either way, it seems that more and more judges are aware of what happened, and they're even going back into old cases to explore...

what a shame that judges still seem to think that the same measures, when used by the entertainment industries and their various 'aids' are perfectly fine. they are doing the exact same shakedown operation that Prenda and others were/are/will be doing! perhaps if Prenda had 'oiled the correct palms' they would have been able to carry on unscathed?

Re: Poor defendants...

It's not quite as bad as that, given all the information on all those people, the info would be filed under seal, so it wouldn't be public in any way(unlike what Prenda likely was threatening them with to get the settlements).

Re: Re: Poor defendants...

I believe that the fraudulent nature of the filing would negate the NDA in these cases. If push came to shove the court would side with the individuals, after all, the only reason the trolls obtained their personal information was because the troll lied to a court in order to show they did something illegal. Prenda may argue that the "Alan Cooper" signature was not significant nor required to be on the declaration but by submitting it to the court they still represented a fraudulent document.

The fraud is not in the signature but in the submission of a document with a signature that they knew to be false.

Re: Re: Re: Poor defendants...

The concern needs to be for the Does.

They have already had the nightmare of Pretenda on the attack against them, they settled to make it stop and protect themselves, and a "mistake" in filing a supposed to be sealed document (amazingly finding an emergency number for a court clerk is really hard... Why yes, this stunts happened before) can devastate these people to a degree more than the empty coffers of the empty shell can compensate.

The court could also ask questions about sharkMP4, the statements of 6881, the "expert" certification, the mythical magical super software that is never wrong unless the press asks to many questions.

Hell I'd be happy if someone in power finally seized the property rather than allowing them months to clean up the records of their actions. But then the 'Wheels of Justice' seem to move slowest against its own parts.

Postulated

The Prendanistas will file an emergency pleading asserting AF Holdings had no direct contact with Does inasmuch as AFH uses a third-party collection company to handle initial dunning calls. This unnamed company is run by Mark Lutz, who is not the same Mark Lutz who controls the trust behind AFH. Mark Lutz (but not THE Mark Lutz) will be the next person tossed under the bus.

Re: Re: Postulated

Re: Postulated

No, no, no... you got it all wrong. The trust behind AFH is not controlled by Mark Lutz, but by the Marklutz trust which was set up with Alan Cooper's imaginary parakeet as sole beneficiary. The confusion is normal, though, so don't feel too bad about it.

Re:

and that crumpling sound you hear is his bar card.
He worked a case and has no records of it... seems like that isn't how the system is supposed to work.
He doesn't know who settled with his client... huh so who spoke with the Does and why were you unaware of the legal negotiations in a case with your name on it sir?

While I like that this Magistrate Judge has smelled the stench coming Prenda's various cases, Prenda and Steele are going to appeal or not comply with the Magistrate Judges order.

More courts are becoming aware after Judge Wright's ruling how Prenda lawsuits are not really about suing anyone but more of a shakedown to collect settlements.

This will be another case of a lawyer Prenda hired thru Craiglist to be on the hook for Steele, Duffy and Hansmeier's misdeeds.

Prenda I doubt will turn this information over to Dugas, they will more than likely try and delay turning this over or they will file to try and stay this Magistrate Judge order.

Can you imagine if Prenda let this stand and turned over the information. Steele would be quaking in his shoes that an avalanche effect might start and there is no way they are going to want to give people they made pay a settlement their money back.

Steele, Duffy and Hansmeier not only have to deal with this but they are still on Judge Wright's radar and still have Judge Snow's questions to answer in the AZ case and also have to deal with Mr.Harris who is being a thorn in their side since they made him a target in their lawsuit in AZ case.

It will be interesting to see how they handle all the collateral damage they are receiving since Judge Wrights order.

It will be interesting to watch what unfolds with their new cases under their latest re-incarnation that they have been filing, I would bet Lawerys for the clients being sued will quite pleased to inform the Judge of Prenda's past.

Re:

Start an avalanche effect? No, no. It seems you haven't been paying enough attention. Judge Wright already started the "avalanche effect", as you put it. Now we're just waiting for what you described to come to pass... & that will be more of a total cascade failure.

An avalanche can start slow, & end up mighty destructive in a limited area.

However, a total cascade failure also starts slow (usually w/ a single node), but as each part of the system fails, the damage becomes worse & worse, w/ the next failure more damaging than the previous, until the entire system collapses.

As more judges become wise to the scam, look into it & require sanctions, they'll draw the attention of even more judges, some of whom will require more sanctions, & they'll draw even more attention, w/ a larger number of judges sanctioning (& w/ prior findings & sanctions, those multiple additional sanctions could be larger), & so on. Eventually, enough judges will be aware that the scam will collapse on itself, not only making the scam unworkable, but unsustainable as the sanctions pile up. Hopefully, this collapse will include jail time & refunds.

the smell of burning paper

Your honor, my client informs me they cannot, unfortunately produce such records. Apparently all records were turned over to Salt Marsh. [communicated as the smell of burning paper wafts across the offices of Steele, Hansmeier and Duffy...]